Resort's " New Normal " Rule - No AIR 2 or diving your long hose

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We may be splitting semantic hairs. Yes use of an air2 is a form of primary donate, but outside of SB I have not heard one person using an air2 refer to their setup as a primary donate, they typically say they are using an air2 or a bcd inflator octo. Most folks that talk primary donate as a system are tech divers, a much more limited group.
In the resorts where I was working, the AIR2 was not considered a valid alternate air source, and each diver was always required to have one alternate air source, to be donated in case of necessity. If he also has the Air2, good for him, but this does not remove the requirement of having a secondary air source.
Regarding the fact that primary donate is used by tech divers, I would add that it is used by just a group of tech divers, following a specific method developed and optimised for cave diving in a specific type of caves, which are not common here in Europe.
I have read about UK cave divers, and they use different methods and no primary donate.
The same here in Italy, I did dive for more than 10 years at Capo Caccia, Sardinia, where the caverns go inside the mountain for almost 1 km, and where specific procedures are employed, totally different from the US method.
For example, frog kicking is entirely forbidden there... And the usage of dry suits is strongly discouraged at Capo Caccia.
So, it is not that tech divers are a minority (which is definitely true), it is that, looking worldwide, also among technical divers these US-style techniques are not so common... A minority of the minority, statistically irrelevant for "mainstream" resorts.
Probably very useful and highly optimized for the specific type of diving for which they were developed, but absolutely wrong in different environments or with other types of divers.
A diver should adapt his equipment, procedure and behaviour following what is optimal for the site, without anything religiously defended and assuming it is good everywhere and always. I have no problem following the procedures and safety measures required from the resort where I am going, they probably know better than me what is appropriate in their site.
 
Their boat, their rule, my money, my choice.
How bad will they be slapped for requiring a non-standard setup and have that be called out due to the cause of a fatality.

I am making other travel choices as well. As someone who got sick and recovered I feel the world is living in a too protective state. I will not travel by airline under the current rules. My local salt water is a days drive away, But the state rules are restrictive enough that I will not travel there. Sorry California, I am sure you want my tourism money to give stimulus money to un-documented workers but you are not getting any at this time. Accept that there is risk in life and we will be friends. cave into widespread panic, you are on your own.
 
@Angelo Farina its not mentioned specifically but there is also a growing group of recreational divers that also practice primary donate with a bungeed backup and a longish (often 40 inch) looped under arm. This is what I and my partner dive.

The odds are great that this rule will not effect me because I simply don’t dive where dive groups are heavily organized/controlled by the dive op. But I could certainly see a primary donate diver splashing on her bungeed reg, switching underwater to standard hose, then returning to bungeed backup to board the boat if that’s what it took to meet the requirements.
 
Lets try this instead,

Dear (guest, students, etc)

We understand your concern with Covid and primary donate, after careful thought and review we have decided that for training we will not do traditional primary donate instead the person taking the reg will simply hold the donated second stage.

We considered having the long hose clipped to the chest ring however in a real OOA situation this makes the second stage hard to quickly access creating a possible deadly situation. We maintain that having the traditional octo creates a situation where the second stage is either hard to unclip or falls out and therefore hard to quickly find.

We realize that real situations of OOA are rare so this action provides the best possible answer to a already bad situation and allows both divers the highest chance of reaching the surface safely.

If you have symptoms of any disease or have been exposed to anyone has any disease we will happily reschedule your (trip, class, etc)

thank you management
 
@Angelo Farina its not mentioned specifically but there is also a growing group of recreational divers that also practice primary donate with a bungeed backup and a longish (often 40 inch) looped under arm. This is what I and my partner dive.

The odds are great that this rule will not effect me because I simply don’t dive where dive groups are heavily organized/controlled by the dive op. But I could certainly see a primary donate diver splashing on her bungeed reg, switching underwater to standard hose, then returning to bungeed backup to board the boat.

If I was caught by surprise by an operator with this policy, this is exactly what I would do, and then switch operators
 
Also from the management;

We forgot to add; although we want to protect you from getting COVID-19 underwater, we don't care if our guests eat together, ride the boats together, fly here together, breathe from tanks that haven't been tumbled in twenty years, and use rental regs that have been hanging next to every other rental reg since the last group was here.
 
Totally stupid and will cause problems.

I think it is a great idea. Can you list some of the problems this idea will cause, and back it up with some evidence?

If this is the new norm, some or most of us need to be retrained. New divers will quickly get into the new practice. More important it will be quicker and safer to new divers into the sport of diving.
 
Lets try this instead,

Dear (guest, students, etc)

We understand your concern with Covid and primary donate, after careful thought and review we have decided that for training we will not do traditional primary donate instead the person taking the reg will simply hold the donated second stage.

We considered having the long hose clipped to the chest ring however in a real OOA situation this makes the second stage hard to quickly access creating a possible deadly situation. We maintain that having the traditional octo creates a situation where the second stage is either hard to unclip or falls out and therefore hard to quickly find.

We realize that real situations of OOA are rare so this action provides the best possible answer to a already bad situation and allows both divers the highest chance of reaching the surface safely.

If you have symptoms of any disease or have been exposed to anyone has any disease we will happily reschedule your (trip, class, etc)

thank you management
When the AIDS scare materialised training agencies changed in-water basic live saving breaths from doing nose-to-nose to touching the forehead or opposite cheek.
What happened, people died because rescuers blow rescue breaths on the forehead or cheek.
People do what they were trained to do.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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